爭議聲中彭斯副總統訪移民局

Amid a wave of backlash against the agency, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Friday visited the headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, echoing President Donald Trump's praise and proclaiming the administration's full support of the agency.

ICE was established in 2003, under the then-new U.S. Department of Homeland Security. During the administration of President Barack Obama, ICE — particularly its Enforcement and Removal Operations department, which is charged with detaining and deporting illegal immigrants inside the U.S. — was primarily concerned with the removal of illegal immigrants, who already had committed "serious crimes," according to The New York Times.

Yet President Trump, an immigration hardliner, has expanded the agency's scope, authorizing them to go after anyone who is in the country without the proper documentation — therefore illegally — regardless of criminal record.

Several leading Democrats, including U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have in recent weeks called for the abolition of ICE. Both Warren and Gillibrand are thought of as potential candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2020 election.

"The President's deeply immoral actions have made it obvious that we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom, starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our values," Warren wrote in a Facebook post Saturday.

Gillibrand called the agency a "deportation force."

On Friday, Pence decried these claims, repeatedly calling the agency's employees "heroes."

Pence assured the agency's employees that the Trump administration "would never abolish ICE," citing the organization's efforts in curbing gang crime within the country, particularly from MS-13.在針對美國移民及海關執法局(ICE)的一片抗議聲浪中，美國副總統彭斯星期五訪問該機構總部，他與川普總統一樣讚揚了移民執法工作，並宣佈白宮全面支持ICE。

美國移民及海關執法局(ICE)成立於2003年，隸屬當時新設立的美國國土安全部。根據《紐約時報》的說法，在奧巴馬總統執政期間，ICE、特別是負責拘捕和遣返美國境內非法移民的執法與遞解行動處主要關心的是遞解那些已經犯有“嚴重罪行”的人。

但是在移民問題上持強硬立場的川普總統擴大了該機構的執法範圍，批准他們抓捕任何沒有恰當文件而非法滯留美國的人，不管這些人是否有犯罪記錄。

幾名民主黨領袖人物，包括來自紐約的吉利布蘭德參議員和來自麻薩諸塞州的沃倫參議員最近呼籲取消ICE。她們兩人都被視爲是有可能在2020年代表民主黨競選總統的人。

沃倫星期六在臉書上說：“總統採取的很不道德的行動表明，我們需要自上而下重建我們的移民制度，先要以反映我們價值觀的機構取代ICE。”

吉利布蘭德稱該機構是“遣返隊”。

星期五，彭斯譴責了這些說法。他一再稱該機構的員工是“英雄”。

彭斯對ICE僱員說，他們可以放心，川普政府“永遠也不會取消ICE”。他提到了ICE打擊美國國內犯罪幫派、特別是MS-13團伙的努力。